
RICHARD WATSON GILDER 




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POEMS AND INSCRIPTIONS 



By R. W. gilder 

The New Day 

The Celestial Passion 

Lyrics 

Two Worlds 

The Great Remembrance 

THE ABOVE ALSO (N 
ONE VOLUME ENTITLED 

Five Books of Song 

A SELECTION ENTITLED 

" For the Country" 

In Palestine 

Poems and Inscriptions 



POEMS AND 
INSCRIPTIONS 



BY 



/ 

RICHARD WATSON GILDER 



A»««'3> 




NEW YORK 

THE CENTURY CO. 
I 9 o I 



THe L'.BRARY OF 

GO >^ on EPS, 
Two CufiES Receiweo 

DEC. ir 1901 

CePVtllOHT ENTRY 

CLASS CtOtXa No, 
COPY d. 






COPYRIGHT, 1901 

BY RICHARD WATSON GILDER 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



CONTENTS 

Autumn at Four-Brooks Farm .... i 

Indoors in Early Spring 3 

The Night Pasture . 5 

A Letter from the Farm 10 

Summer Begins 17 

" Strolling Toward Shottery " 19 

Stratford Bells 22 

In Wordsworth's Orchard 24 

Dove Cottage. ' 

Sir Walter Scott 26 

A Day in Tuscany 29 

A Sacred Comedy in Florence .... 33 

In which takes Part a certain Statue on the Fafade of 
the Duomo. 

V 



Contents 

Michael Angelo's Aurora 35 

The Medici Chapel, Florence. 

The Old Master 36 

At Luther's Grave 38 

Wittenberg. 

Beethoven 40 

Vienna. 

The Desert 42 

Egypt 44 

Syria 45 

The Dead Poet 46 

A. H. 

War 48 

The Blameless Knight . 51 

The Demagogue 54 

The Tool 55 

The New Politician 56 

A Lady to a Knight 59 

vi 



Contents 

" Is Hope a Phantom ? " 60 

Song 61 

" If, lest thy heart betray thee." 

Memory ^3 

" O Glorious Sabbath Sun " 65 

Motto for a Tree-Planting 66 

Janet 67 

On Being Asked for a Song 69 

Concerning the dedication of a Mountain in Samoa, 
to the Memory of Stevenson. A letter to I. O. S. 

To Austin Dobson 72 

To L. R. S 74 

" Many the Names" 76 

John George Nicolay 77 

Washington, D. C, September 1901, 

At the President's Grave ...... 79 

Garfield : September 1881. 

The Comfort of the Trees ...... 81 

McKinley : September 1901. 
vii 



Contents 
The City of Light 83 

The Pan-American Exposition. 

Inscriptions for the Pan-American Exposition 
at Buffalo, 1901 88-101 

For the Propylaea 88 

For the Stadium 90 

For the Great Pylons of the Triumphal 
Causeway 91 

Dedicatory Inscriptions ..... 94 



POEMS 



AUTUMN AT FOUR-BROOKS 
FARM 

N'O song-bird, singing, soaring. 
But the brooks are up and roaring! 
Along the lane one lonely tree 
Starts a sound like a storm at sea. 
The round, black clouds pursue 
Across the gulfs of blue; 
So fast they fly the mountain crest 
Reels backward to the blowing west. 
Shadow and sun rush on together 

Across the hills in the gusty weather, 
I 



Poems and Inscriptions 

And leaves like flocks of golden birds 
Take flight above the huddling herds. 
Hark, hark that bell-like baying! — 
The wily fox with the hound is playing; 
All is motion, and air, and strife; 
Down the valley the floods are pouring; 
This is Autumn, O this is life; 
No song-bird sings, but the hawks are soaring, 
And the brooks are up and roaring! 



INDOORS IN EARLY SPRING 
I 

IN the old farm-house living-room 
Four shrunken doors shut out the gloom ; 
Two curtained windows hide night's pall ; 
These openings six in the ancient wall 
Let in the breeze in seams. 
The air in spark-lit, pouring streams 
From hearth to heaven leaps. 
Against the black of the chimney-soot 
The forked flames upshoot, 
And the blaze a-roaring keeps. 



Poems and Inscriptions 

II 
Every log is a separate flute; 
And every chink a singing wire 
Of some unseen y^olian lyre 
Tuned to the music of the fire. 
The little tinkling sounds; the low, 
Sweet whistlings of the bubbling wood ; 
The thundering bass of winds that blow 
In leafless maples by the road, — 
All make a music in the mind; 
While, book in hand, in musing mood, 
My body here, my soul in flight, — 
Through the true poet's world 1 wind, 
And there a spirit-music find 
That mixes with the sounding night. 



THE NIGHT PASTURE 
I 

IN a starry night of June, before the moon had 
come over into our valley from the high 
valley beyond, 

Up the winding mountain-lane I wandered, 

and, stopping, leaned on the bars, and listened; 

And I heard the little brook sliding from stone 

to stone ; and I heard the sound of the bells as the 

cows moved, — heavily, slowly, — 

In various keys, deep, or like sleigh-bells 

tinkling, sounded the chiming cow-bells, — 
5 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Starting and stilling, irregular; near or far away 
in the dusk, — 

And the nearer cows I heard chewing the cud, 
and breathing warm on the cool air of the moun- 
tain slope 

In the night pasture. 

11 

Terrace on terrace rises the farm, from mea- 
dow and winding river to forest of chestnut and 
pine; 

There by the high-road, among the embower- 
ing maples, nestles the ancient homestead; 

From each new point of vantage lovelier seems 
the valley, and the hill-framed sunset ever more 
and more moving and glorious; 



Poems and Inscriptions 

But when in the thunderous city I think of the 
mountain farm, nothing so sweet of remem- 
brance, — holding me as in a dream, — 

As the silver note of the unseen brook, and the 
clanging of the cow-bells fitfully in the dark, and 
the deep breathing of the cows 

In the night pasture. 

Ill 

Then I think, notof myself— but an image comes 
to me of one who has passed, — 

Of an old man bent with labor; 

He, like his father before him, for many and 
many a year, 

When the cows down the mountains have 
trudged in the summer evening, and after the 
evening milking, 

7 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Night after night, and year after year, back up 
the lane he has driven them, while the shepherd- 
dog leaped and barked, — 

Back up the lane, and past the orchard, and 
through the bars 

Into the night pasture. 

IV 

There in the twilight 1 see him stand : 

He listens to the sounds of the field and the 
forest. 

On his brow strikes the cool mountain air; 

Hard is the old man's life and full indeed of 
sorrow, — 

But now, for a moment, respite from labor, in 

the pause 'twixt day and night! 
8 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Perhaps to his heart comes a sense of the 
beauty that fills all this exquisite valley, — 

A sense of peace and of rest ; a thought of the 
long and toilless night that comes to all, 

As he leans on the bars and listens, and hears 
the deep-breathed cows, and the scattered sound 
of the bells 

In the night pasture. 



A LETTER FROM THE 
FARM 

TELL you the news 
From Four-Brooks Farm ? 
Well, 

But there is news to tell, 
As long as my arm ! 
" What ! a new she-calf born 
To this world forlorn ? " 
Few things are finer 
Than a fine heifer-calf, 
And most things are minor; 

10 



Poems and Inscriptions 

But 'tis better by half 

The news that I've got now! 

Such a wonderful lot now 

Of heifers, — why, what now 

Such farm news as this ! 

You were here, when, what bliss! 

Alpha dropped on our planet, 

And we all ran to scan it : 

How the soft thing, with silk down. 

Had learned to bring milk down 

Without any teaching, 

Example, or preaching! 

No this is not the news 

From Four-Brooks Farm— 

Nor the ice-pond built 
1 1 



Poems ajid It? snip f ions 

Where Hermit Brook spilt; 
Nor the great pine we found 
Thunder-burst in the middle 
And spread on the ground 
Like the strings of a fiddle; 
Not of this, not of that, — 
Such news now were flat, — 
But something far racier! 
Muir, of Alaska, 
Path-fmder, clifT-basker, 
Known of bird, known of deer, 
(Grizzlies know him, won't harm,) 
John Muir has been here, 
And has hitched to the farm 
A great blanket glacier! 
Don't flout it! don't doubt it! 

12 



Poems and Inscriptions 

'Tis as sure and as clear 
As if on the rock, 
With chisel and knock, 
A giant of eld 
His message had spelled, 
And ten thousand years after 
We read it, — with laughter 
And loyal acclaim, — 
His ancestry, name. 
The work he was doing, 
The place whence he came. 
And the journey pursuing. 
"This giant of eld! 
See his path," said John Muir,- 
" Here it held 
North-west to south-east; 
13 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Slow and sure, 
Like a king at a feast 
Eating down through the list ; 
Inch by inch, crunch by crunch ; 
Yonder hollow his lunch, 
Of this valley — one gobble, — 
Then he supped light on Cobble! 
This big boulder, he bore it; 
Through eons uncounted 
That range there he mounted, 
He tore it. 

Rock-grinding; strata rending; 
Always pausing; never ending; 
O what a grand rumpus! 
Now, down on your knees," 
Said Muir, "an you please, 



Poems and Inscriptions 

And out with your compass! " 

(By the way — 'twas Thoreau's 

In the long, long-agoes,) 

And then, in a trice, 

Where the quartz glistens white, 

Smooth as ice, 

In the clear, slanting light 

The fine striae show, — 

Like arrows they go, 

North-west to south-east, 

Just as John Muir pleased! 

And as he spoke I saw the huge creature glide 
With speed that scarcely lessened or increased 
From the far pole to ocean's melting tide. 
Through countless boreal hours 
'5 



Poems and Inscriptions 

It moved on its torn pathway deep and wide: 

Its shining bulk I saw 

Crunching the mountain tops with monstrous 

maw; — 
To make our Four-Brooks Farm with all its 

flocks and flowers. 



i6 



SUM MER BEGINS 
1 

THE bright sun has been hid so long, — 
Such endless rains, such clouds and glooms ! 
But now, as with a burst of song, 
The happy Summer morning blooms. 

II 
The brooks are full, it is their youth ; 

No hint of shrunken age have they ; 
They shout like children, and in truth, 
No human child so careless-gay. 
17 



Poems and Inscriptions 

III 
How fresh the woods, each separate leaf 

Is shining in the joyful sun. 
Strange! 1 have half forgotten grief; 

I think that life has just begun. 



18 



"STROLLING TOWARD 

SHOTTERY" 

I 

STROLLING toward Shottery on one 
showery day 
We saw upon the turf beside the path 
A clown who, stooping by the pleasant way, 
Rough-cobbled his torn shoes and spoke in 
feigned wrath. 

II 
At first we thought him brain-touched and 
askew, 
But as we listened to his shrilling talk 
'9 



Poems and Inscriptions 

We found him prating of some things he knew, 
Though others he but guessed ; — we halted in 
our walk. 

Ill 
His was the wisdom shrewd of roadside men, 
Gathered in wanderings through the country 
wide; 
He had a cynic wit, and to his ken 
The world wagged wickedly, — saved by its 
humorous side. 

IV 

Racy his speech and, though it bit, good-hearted ; 

There was an honest freshness in the tramp; 

We felt his debtor, therefore when we parted 

Some pennies wealthier the philosophic scamp ! 
20 



Poems and Inscriptions 

V 

Laughing we followed on to sweet Anne's cot : 
— Perhaps like us her lover left the town; 

Like us he crossed the pretty pasture lot, 
And met— and made immortal — one more 
Shakespeare clown. 



21 



STRATFORD BELLS 

ONE Sabbath eve, betwixt green Avon's 
banks, 
In a dream-world we hour by hour did float; 
The ruffling swans moved by in stately ranks; 
With soft, sad eyes the cattle watched our 
boat. 
We, passionate pilgrims from a far-off land. 
Beyond the vexed Bermoothes : Oh, how dear 
That strange, sweet picture, — by the Enchan- 
ter's wand 
Familiar to our spirits made, and near! 

22 



Poems and Inscriptions 

But suddenly a loud and resonant sound 
Thrilled from the skies and waters; lo, the 

chimes 
Of Stratford rang and rang; the very ground 
Murmured, as with a deep-voiced poet's rhymes; 
Then swift melodious tone on tone was 

hurled : 
'Twas Shakespeare's music brimmed the trem- 
bhng world. 



IN WORDSWORTH'S ORCHARD 

DOVE COTTAGE 

IN Wordsworth's orchard one sweet Summer 
day 
Breathless we listened to his thrushes sing; 
We heard the trickling of the little spring 
Beneath the terrace ; saw the tender play 
Of breezes 'midst the leaves; scarce could we say 
The well-loved verses whose rich blossoming 
Was on this narrow hillside ; strange they ring 
For tears that choke the numbers on their way. 
24 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Then home by winding Rothay did we turn 
While bird, and bloom, and mountain seemed 

his voice 
Deep sounding to the spiritual ear, — 

And this its message: Let love in thee burn, 
Here learn in holy beauty to rejoice 
Here learn true living, and the song sincere. 



25 



SIR WALTER SCOTT 

I 

RHYMERS and writers of our day, 
Too much of melancholy! 
Give us the old heroic lay; 
A whiff of wholesome folly ; 
The escapade, the dance; 
A touch of wild romance: 
Wake from this self-conscious fit; 
Give us again Sir Walter's wit; 
His love of earth, of sky, of life; 
His ringing page with humor rife; 
His never-weary pen ; 

His love of men! 

26 



Poems and Inscriptions 

II 
Builder of landscape, who could make 
Turret and tower their stations lake 
Brave in the face of the sun ; 
Of many a mimic world creator, 
Alive with fight and strenuous fun ; 
Of nothing human he the hater. 
Nobly could he plan : 
Master of nature, master of man. 

Ill 
Sometimes I think that He who made us, 
And on this pretty planet laid us, 
Made us to work and play 
Like children in the light of day— 
Not like plodders in the dark, 
Searching with lanterns for some mark 

27 



Poems and Inscriptions 

To find the way. 
After the stroke of pain, 
Up and to work again ! 

IV 

Such was his life, without reproach or fear: 

A lonely fight before the last eclipse, — 

A broken heart, a smile upon the lips; 

And, at the end. 

When Heaven bent down and whispered in 
his ear 

The word God's saints waited and longed 
to hear, 

I ween he was as quick as they to compre- 
hend; 

And, when he passed beyond the goal, 

Entered the gates of pearl no sweeter soul. 
28 



A DAY IN TUSCANY 
I 

1KNEW the Rucellai had choice of villas: 
This day has proved it, this thrice happy day 
Stolen from care, and many a saddened thought. 
Have we not seen, v^e wanderers from afar, 
f'ountained Caneto, standing watch and ward 
Over Bisenzio's lovely, curving vale! — 
Caneto, olive-cinctured, cypress-crowned, 
And wreathed in vine; Caneto whose high hall 
Bears record of a proud and noble race. 
Friendly to art and letters (Cimabue 

Be witness paramount; and the brave front 
29 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Of Santa Maria Novella; the Academe 
That in the Garden of the Rucellai 
Relit the Athenian fire !) yes, Edith dear, 
I love Caneto well, but well 1 love 
This "Villa of the Little Fields," that hides 
Embowered among its farms; in rose and lilac 
Radiant and scented like an April bride; 
'Mid busy sounds secluded and remote. 
But most I love this tower you call my own. 
This musing tower that wins the soul to song, 
From whose four windows, see! the Apennines 
Make a walled paradise of Tuscany. 

II 
Beyond the ilex-dome, against the west. 
The sunset sky was crimson: "Then," you say, 

30 



Poetns and Inscriptions 

" Fair is to-morrow, if the sky was red." 
" Fair is to-morrow " ? Oh, to-morrow fair 
That wakes me from this dream ?— Here from 

my tower 
One planet marks where Prato lies below, 
And yonder, through the tender gray and green 
Of the high-branching plane-tree, shines a light 
Betwixt the earth and heaven,— a lure that 

means 
Florence, and all its wonder; now, ah, now 
The hour draws nigh when Italy once more 
To me is of the past, a thought, a passion, 
But all ungrasped of sense. 
And what is that our Cosimo has said ? 
"To-day the nightingales have come."— Have 

come? 

31 



Poems and Inscriptions 

And I, though listening long, and with my soul, 
1 have not heard one tone. 

In the Tower at Campi Bisen^io. 



32 



A SACRED COMEDY IN 
FLORENCE 

IN WHICH TAKES PART A CERTAIN STATUE 
ON THE FAgADE OF THE DUOMO 

LONELY Pope upon his throne, 
Cold in marble, high in air, — 
On the Duomo's checl^ered front, — 
Benediction, as is wont, 
Falling from his saintly face 
Down upon the clattering square: — 
Falls, to-day, a special grace 
For, in fact, he's not alone, — 
33 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Solemn Pope upon his throne, 
White in marble, cold in air! — 
To those priestly fingers there. 
Lifted o'er the peopled square, 
A purple pigeon sudden flits — 
Lightly 'lights and lingering sits. 
By the Bapistery gates. 
Where I stand, 1 can but smile, 
Thinking that the potentate's 
Lips are curving, too, the while ; 
And 1 wonder what the bird 
Said that Papa, smiling, heard. 



34 



MICHAEL ANGELO'S AURORA 

THE MEDICI CHAPEL, FLORENCE 

O MAJESTY and loveliness in one! 
Why art thou sorrowful, now night is 
done ? 
This is the dawn ; why doth thy spirit quake ? 
O thou who wakenest! is it pain to wake ? 



35 



THE OLD MASTER 

OF his dear Lord he painted all the life, 
But not that ancient land, nor the old 
days; 
Not curious he to seek, through learned strife, 
The look of those far times and unknown ways. 
But in his solemn and long-living art 
Well did he paint that which can never die : 
The life and passion of the human heart, 
Unchanged while sorrowing age on age goes 

by. 

^6 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Beneath his brush his own loved people grew, 
Their rivers and their mountains, saints and 

lords, 
The dark Italian mothers whom he knew. 

The sad-eyed nuns, the warriors with drawn 

swords ; 
Andthe youngSaviour, thronedat Mary's breast, 
Was but some little child whom he loved best. 



37 



AT LUTHER'S GRAVE 

WITTENBERG 

HERE rests the heart whose throbbing 
shook the earth ! 
High soul of courage, we do owe thee much ; 
Thee and thy warrior comrades, who the 

worth 
Of freedom proved and put it to the touch! 
Because, O Luther, thou the truth didst love. 
And spake the truth out, faced the sceptered 

lie, 
E'en we, thy unforgetting heirs, may move 

Fearless, erect, unshackled, 'neath the sky. 
38 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Yet at this shrine who doth forever linger 

Shall know not that true freedom Luther 

won; — • 

"Onward," his spirit points, with lifted 

finger, 

" Onward lies truth ! My work were never done 

If souls by me awakened climbed not higher — 

Ever to seek, and fear not, the celestial fire." 



39 



BEETHOVEN 

VIENNA 

1CAME to a great city. Palaces 
Rose glittering, mile on mile. Here dwells 
the King, 
The Emperor and King; here lived, here ruled 
How many mountainous far-looming fames; 
Here is the crown of shadowy Charlemagne. 
What housing of what glorious dignities! 
Yet in a narrow street, unfrequented, 

No palace near — one name upon a wall, 
40 



Poems and Inscriptions 

And all these majesties seem small and shrunk ; 

For here unto the bitter end abode 

He who from pain wrought noble joy for men, 

He who from silence gave the world to song; 

For in his mind an awful music rose 

As when, in darkness of the under-seas, 

Currents tremendous over currents pour. 

He heard the soundless tone, its voice he was, 

And he of vast humanity the voice, 

And his the empire of the human soul. 



41 



THE DESERT 

SOULS live for whom the illimitable sands 
Not lonely are ; they see white, phantom 
hands 
Beckoning in spectral twilights, and they hear 
Voices that come not to another ear. 
The mystic desert calls them, as doth call 
The sea to those who once have known its 

thrall— 
The desert that (like to the eternal sea) 

Creates a visible infinity ; — 
42 



Poems and Inscriptions 

There, where the day its quivering fire outpours, 

A silent ocean breaks on silent shores. 

Who would be wise 

Let him consort with Time 'neath desert skies. 



43 



EGYPT 

1 THOUGHT, in Egypt, Death was more than 
Life, 
It seemed so long; its monuments so great ; 
The emptiness of tombs was such high state, — 
No living thought, or power, or potentate 
So glorious seemed, wrapt in such splendid 

gloom. 
For 1 perceived that in each ancient tomb, 
Long ages since, dead kings for Death made room. 
Not here the Dead, but Death : — alone, supreme : 
In Egypt Death was real, — Life a winged Dream. 



44 



SYRIA 

I THOUGHT in Syria, Life was more than 
Death. 
A tomb there was forsaken of its dead, 
But Death filled not the place; here with bowed 

head 
Worships the world forever at the tread 
Of one who lived, who liveth, and shall live, — 
Whose grave is but a footstep on the sod ; 
Men kiss the ground where living feet have trod. 
Here not to Death but Life, they worship give. 
August is Death, but this one tomb is rife 
With a more mighty presence ; it is Life. 



45 



THE DEAD POET 

A. H. 
I 

HIS was the love of art and song, 
And well he loved the flowery way ; 
Yet great his wrath at prospered wrong ; 
When evil triumphed day by day 
Then plunged he in the fray. 

II 

And when brave innocence went down 

Then did the vanquished find a friend. 
46 



Poems and Inscriptions 

With him went justice through the town; 
No foeman ever saw him bend; 
He scorn for scorn could send. 

Ill 

Men said his heritage was lost; 
For, born to gentler use, his youth 

Was wasted in rude strife ; the cost 
Too great, they deemed, although, in sooth, 
Through him men learned of Truth. 

IV 

So were his songs but brief and few ; 

Yet of some lives they were a part. 
And on some souls they fell like dew; 

Dead, — now men say : he gave to art 

The epic of the heart. 

47 



WAR 

1 

TWO men on thrones, or crouched 
behind. 
With cunning words the world would blind. 
With faces grave, averse from spoils, 
They weave their thieving, cynic toils. 
One thing they mean, another speak; 
Bland phrases utter, tongue in cheek. 
Stale truths turn lies on velvet lips; 

The candid heavens are in eclipse; 
48 



Poems and Inscriptions 

From crooked minds, and hearts all black, 
Comes War upon its flaming track, 
And reeking fiends in happy hell 
Shout, "All is well!" 

II 
Then lives surprise! 
While not a devil dares to shirk, 
But all his hellish malice plies — 
The angels, too, begin their work. 
Now every virtue issues forth 
And busy is from south to north : 
Self-sacrifice, and love, and pity 
Tramp all the rounds in field and city; 
Mercy beyond a price, sweet ruth. 
Courage and comradeship and truth, 
And gentlest deed and noblest thought, 

49 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Into the common day are brought. 
Man lives at heaven's gate, and dies 
For fellow-man with joyful cries. 

Ill 
And all the while hell's imps are free 
To work their will with fearful glee. 
The beast in man anew is born; 
Revenge, and lust, and pride, and scorn, 
And glory false, and hateful hate, 
All join to desecrate the State. 



so 



THE BLAMELESS KNIGHT 
I 

WHERE led the bright and blame- 
less plume 
We charged the shameless foe ; 
Whether to win or lose our doom 
We never cared to know. 
II 
His voice was as a scimitar, 

Superb and sure his stroke ; 
And where he came their men-of-war 
In panic fury broke. 
51 



Poems and Inscriptions 

III 
Once more we gathered for the fight 

Against the ranks of shame; 
Again we called the blameless knight 

And cheered him as he came. 

IV 

But, God of grace! not with us now 

Our valiant knight doth go: 
A plume of black above his brow — 

He leads the shameless foe! 

v 
They are the same, that shameful horde, 

The same their shameless song; 
Beneath his shield they draw the sword 

For rapine and for wrong. 

S2 



Poems and Inscriptions 

VI 

Fight on! tight on! brave comrades all, 

Nor weep the blameless knight; 
They cannot fail, what though they fall, 

Who battle for the right, 
vn 
One Captain less in our good war, 

But see! a thousand spring 
Intent as never men before 

To strike the Accursed Thing. 



53 



THE DEMAGOGUE 

ALL mouth, no mind; a mindless mouth, in 
sooth ; 
He does not bend his strength to seek the truth, 
But, shrewdly guessing what may take the crowd, 
With tragic grimace, this he shouts aloud. 
No true opinion, no fixed faith has he, 
But gravely simulates sincerity. 
His many causes swift resolve to one: 
You find him his own cause when all is done. 



S4 



THE TOOL 

THE man of brains, of fair repute, and birth, 
Who loves high place above all else of 
earth ; 
Who loves it so, he'll go without the power 
If he may hold the semblance but an hour; 
Willing to be some sordid creature's tool 
So he but seem a little while to rule; — 
On him even moral pigmies would look down ; 
Were prizes given for shame, he'd wear the 
crown. 



55 



THE NEW POLITICIAN 

WHILE others hedged, or silent lay, 
He to the people spoke all day; 
Aye, and he said precisely what 
He thought; each time he touched the spot. 
" In heaven's name, what does he mean! 
Was ever such blind folly seen ! " 
The wag-beard politicians cried : 
" Can no one stop the man ? " they sighed. 
"This ' talking frankly ' may be fun, 
But when have such mad tactics won ? 




Poems and Inscriptions 

He may be happy, but the cost 

Is ours! The whole election's lost! " 

And still the people at his feet 
Followed and cheered from street to street. 
Truly this ne'er was known before: 
No soldier, sailor, orator, — 
No hero home from battle he 
Whom welcoming thousands rush to see; 
But just a man who dared to take 
His stand on justice, make or break; 
'Twas all because the people found 
A man by no conventions bound ; 
Who sought to heal their black disgrace 
By treating rich and poor the same, 
Giving to crime its ugly name, 
Damning the guilty to their face. 
57 



Poems and Inscriptions 

And when the votes, at last, were read 
Our candidate ran clear ahead! 
This be his glory and renown: 
He told the truth — and took the town. 



^8 



A LADY TO A KNIGHT 
I 

SIR Knight, thou lovest not, 
If thou wouldst be too dear; 
And I less worshipful, I wot, 
If thou couldst kneel so near! 
II 
So must thy shield of flawless fame 

Shine clear in honor's light; 
Lest 1 should know a queenly shame 
To find thee less a knight. 



59 



"IS HOPE A PHANTOM?" 

IS Hope a phantom ? Holds the crystal cup 
Sweet madness only — an we drink it up ? 
A respite ere the poor, doomed soul is killed ? 
— Then spake one who had loved : " Hope is no 

lie, 
But real as answered Love, or unfulfilled ; 
Yet were Hope -phantom-false, still would I cry, 
'Hail Thou Bright Poisoner! let me drink, and 
die!' " 



60 



SONG 
I 

IF, lest thy heart betray thee, 
Thou to one lover wouldst not 
constant be, 
And yet thou couldst love me — 
This boon 1 pray thee: 
Divide the dark from light, 

Love me by night. 
6i 



Poems and Inscriptions 

11 
If thy sweet thought would find me, 
Not through the garish day, oh, give it 

wing: 
In shadows clasp and cling, 
And bless and blind me! 
When stars are still and bright- 
Love me by night. 

Ill 
In longing dreams I'll name thee; 
In secret hours, when breathes the mid- 
night rose, 
Thy heart in mine shall close, — 
Great love shall claim thee: 
O mine in dark and light. 

In day and night! 
62 



MEMORY 

INTO this musing, Memory ! thou hast brought 
Me thy true vassal; into this delight 
That is more poignant for the haunting grief; 
And as thou leadest on I follow, follow, 
Down the deep, woody pathway of my dream, — 
Feeling the breath of flowers colorless 
And airs that change their seasons as I wander, 
Falling or cool or warm upon the brow. 
The river shimmers twixt the shadowy boles; 
Scarce seen the stars for the high monstrous leaves 
63 



Poems and Inscriptions 

That make a lover's screen ; while the large moon, 

Late risen, sends three beams athwart the path. 

It is not night, nor day, it is the time 

Of the clear spirit's life; the soul's high noon; 

The hour most fit for passion's holy birth. 

O mellow eve, unstartled by a bird! 

O night whose light is deepening up the sky ! 

— 'Twas such a night when one low-murmured 

word, — 
A word all miracle, — made of my soul 
Nought but a singing rapture. 



64 



"O, GLORIOUS SABBATH 

SUN" 



O GLORIOUS Sabbath sun, thou art 
A balm and blessing to my heart ; 
Dark sorrow flies, and in thy shine 
Bursts o'er the world a flood divine. 

II 
So may the light beyond the skies 
Illume and bless my inward eyes, 
That each new day may bring to me 
The splendor of eternity. 



65 



MOTTO FOR A TREE- 
PLANTING 
I 

STAY as the tree — go as the wind ; 
Whate'er thy place, serve God and kind ! 
II 
The tree holds commerce with the skies 
Though from its place it never flies. 

in 
They serve their God ; they do not roam,— 
The stormy winds that have no home. 



66 



JANET 
I 

1 REMEMBER 
That November 
When the new November child 
On this old world woke and smiled. 

11 
Here's a woman, 
Sweet and human, 
And they call her Janet, now, — 
I can't make it out, 1 vow. 



67 



Poems and Inscriptions 

III 
It only seems 
One night of dreams; 
Years they say ; how do they plan it ? 
What's become of Little Janet ? 

IV 

Never mind; 

She's good ; she's kind ; 

Age can never bend or win her ; 

There's a heart of youth within her. 



68 



ON BEING ASKED FOR A 
SONG 

CONCERNING THE DEDICATION OF A MOUNTAIN IN 
SAMOA TO THE MEMORY OF STEVENSON 

A Letter to I. O. S. 

BUT friend of mine — and his — I am afraid! 
How can I make a song 
When the true song is made! 
For this you say : 

Because that Tusitala loved the birds 
They who named Tusitala (weaver of charmed 

words — 

69 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Teller of Tales) 

Have given his mountain to tlie birds forever! 

There all day long 

Bright-plumaged island-birds make gay the dales, 

From off the sea the swift white bosun over the 

mountain sails, 
From many a large-leaved tree 
The gray dove cooes its low insistent song. 
From those green heights and vales 
They shall be absent never — 
To show what love can be from man to man. 
Lovers of Birds and Poets — this is glory ! 
It is a poem, — that whicn these Chiefs have 

done, — 
In memory of him, the only one. 



70 



Poems and Inscriptions 

And yet our Tusitala could have sung again the 

pretty story, — 
Alas, none other can ! 



71 



TO AUSTIN DOBSON 

LAUREATE of the Gentle Heart! 
Only art like your own art, 
Limpid, gracious, happy-phrased, 
Could praise you as you should be praised. 
Many a lyric you have writ, 
Grave with pathos, gay with wit 
Or conceived in larger mood, 
Shall outlast the clattering brood 
That usurp our noisy day ; 

Shall, with all that's noble, stay 
72 



Poems and Inscriptions 

In our well-loved English tongue 

Till the ending song is sung; 

For no purer tone was heard 

Since men sought Beauty and the Word. 



73 



TO L R. S. 

LISA Romana ! no mean city gave 
Thee to the world, sired by as true a 
knight 
As e'er the flying paynim's helmet clave, 
Leading a hope forlorn in glorious fight! 
And thou, dear, stately maid, no knight of old, 
That eastward battles down the pleasant page 
Of chivalry, ever in heart did hold 
A queenlier image, — face more brightly grave. 
74 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Be kind to her, ye seas, ye winds that blow. 
On the long journey homeward, and one day. 
Ocean and wild sea-winds ! swift make return 

Of her ye take from us ; — aye, let her yearn 
Back, back to us once more; before this gray 
Whitens, and hearts that love her are laid low. 



75 



M 



MANY THE NAMES" 

ANY the names, the souls, the faces dear 
That I have longed to frame in verse 
sincere; 
But one high name, sweet soul, and face of love 
Seemed ever my poor art, oh far above. 
Like Mary's, stricken with sorrow was that face; 
Like hers it wore a most majestic grace. 
That soul was tender as the sunset sky, 
And full of lofty dream her days went by ; 
That name — than God's alone there is no other 
Holy as thine to me, O sacred Mother! 



76 



JOHN GEORGE NICOLAY 

WASHINGTON, D. C, SEPTEMBER 19OI 

THIS man loved Lincoln, him did Lincoln 
love; 
Through the long storm, right there, by Lin- 
coln's side. 
He stood, his shield and servitor; when died 
The great, sweet, sorrowful soul, — still high 

above 
All other passions, that for the spirit fled! 
77 



Poems and Inscriptions 

To this one task his pure life was assigned: 
He strove to make the world know Lincoln's 
mind : 
He served him living, and he served him dead. 
So shall the light from that immortal fame 
Keep bright forever this most faithful name. 



78 



AT THE PRESIDENT'S 
GRAVE 

Garfield: September i88i 

I 

ALL summer long the people knelt 
And listened at the sick man's door: 
Each pang which that pale sufferer felt 
Throbbed through the land from shore to shore ; 
i( 
And as the all-dreaded hour drew nigh, 

What breathless watching, night and day! 
What tears, what prayers! Great God on high,— 
Have we forgotten how to pray! 
79 



Poems and Inscriptions 

III 
O broken-hearted, widowed one, 

Forgive us if we press too near! 
Dead is our husband, father, son, — 

For we are all one household here. 

IV 

And not alone here by the sea. 
And not in his own land alone, 

Are tears of anguish shed with thee- 
In this one loss the world is one. 

EPITAPH 

A man not perfect, but of heart 
So high, of such heroic rage, 

That even his hopes became a part 
Of earth's eternal heritage, 



80 



THE COMFORT OF THE 
TREES 

Mckinley: September 1901 

GENTLE and generous, brave-hearted, 
kind, 
And full of love and trust was he, our chief; 
He never harmed a soul! Oh, dull and blind 
And cruel, the hand that smote, beyond beJief ! 
Strike him? It could not be! Soon should we find 
'Twas but a torturing dream— our sudden 

grief! 
Then sobs and wailings down the northern 

wind 
Like the wild voice of shipwreck from a reef! 
81 



Poems and Inscriptions 

By false hope lulled (his courage gave us hope!) 
By day, by night we watched, — until unfurled 
At last the word of fate ! Our memories 

Cherish one tender thought in their sad scope: 
He, looking from the window on this world, 
Found comfort in the moving green of trees. 



82 



THE CITY OF LIGHT 

THE PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION 

WHAT shall we name it 
As is our bounden duty, — 
This new, swift-builded fairy city of Beauty, — 
What name that shall not shame it, 
Shall make it live beyond its too short living 
With praises and thanksgiving. 

Its name — how shall we doubt it, — 
We who have seen, when the blue darkness falls, 
83 



Poems and Inscriptions 

Leap into lines of light its domes, and spires, and 

walls, 
Pylons, and colonnades, and towers, 
All garlanded with starry flowers! 
Its name — what heart that did not shout it 
When, from afar, flamed sudden against the 

night 
The City of Light! 

/imherst House, Buffalo, May, igot. 



84 



INSCRIPTIONS 



INSCRIPTIONS 

FOR THE 

PAN-AMERICAN 
EXPOSITION 



BUFFALO, 1901 



^ 



INSCRIPTIONS FOR 
THE PROPYLy^A 

PANEL I 
HERE, BY THE GREAT WATERS 
OF THE NORTH, ARE BROUGHT 
TOGETHER THE PEOPLES OF THE 
TWO AMERICAS, IN EXPOSITION 
OF THEIR RESOURCES, INDUS- 
TRIES, PRODUCTS, INVENTIONS, 
ARTS AND IDEAS 



88 



Poems and Inscriptions 

PANEL II 
THAT THE CENTURY NOW BEGUN 
MAY UNITE IN THE BONDS OF 
PEACE, KNOWLEDGE, GOOD-WILL, 
FRIENDSHIP, AND NOBLE EMULA- 
TION ALL THE DWELLERS ON 
THE CONTINENTS AND ISLANDS 
OF THE NEW WORLD 



89 



INSCRIPTIONS FOR 
THE STADIUM 

PANEL I 

NOT IGNOBLE ARE THE DAYS OF 

PEACE, NOT WITHOUT COURAGE 

AND LAURELED VICTORIES 

PANEL II 
HE WHO FAILS BRAVELY HAS 
NOT TRULY FAILED, BUT IS HIM- 
SELF ALSO A CONQUEROR 

PANEL III 

WHO SHUNS THE DUST AND 

SWEAT OF THE CONTEST ON 

HIS BROW FALLS NOT THE COOL 

SHADE OF THE OLIVE 



90 



INSCRIPTIONS FOR 
THE GREAT PYLONS 
OF THE TRIUM- 
PHAL CAUSEWAY 

ON THE PYLONS WERE STATUES 
OF COURAGE, LIBERTY, TOLER- 
ANCE, TRUTH, BENEVOLENCE, 
PATRIOTISM, HOSPITALITY AND 
JUSTICE 



PANEL I 
THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE IS 
THE MAKER OF COMMON- 
WEALTHS 

PANEL II 

FREEDOM IS BUT THE FIRST LES- 

SON!IN SELF-GOVERNMENT 



91 



Poems and Inscriptions 

PANEL III 
RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE A SAFE- 
GUARD OF CIVIL LIBERTY 

PANEL IV 

A FREE STATE EXISTS ONLY IN 

THE VIRTUE OF THE CITIZEN 

PANEL V 
W^HO GIVES WISELY BUILDS MAN- 
HOOD AND THE STATE — WHO 
GIVES HIMSELF GIVES BEST 



92 



Poems and Inscriptions 

PANpL VI 

TO LOVE ONE'S COUNTRY ABOVE 

ALL OTHERS IS NOT TO DESPISE 

ALL OTHERS 

PANEL VII 

THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN, 

THE FEDERATION OF NATIONS, 

THE PEACE OF THE WORLD 

PANEL VllI 
BETWEEN NATION AND NATION, 
AS BETWEEN MAN AND MAN, 
LIVES THE ONE LAW OF RIGHT 



93 



DEDICATORY 
INSCRIPTIONS 

PANEL I 
TO THE ANCIENT RACES OF 
AMERICA, FOR WHOM THE NEW 
WORLD WAS THE OLD, THAT 
THEIR LOVE OF FREEDOM AND 
OF NATURE, THEIR HARDY COUR- 
AGE, THEIR MONUMENTS, ARTS, 
LEGENDS AND STRANGE SONGS 
MAY NOT PERISH FROM THE 
EARTH 



94 



Poems and Inscriptions 

PANEL II 
TO THE EXPLORERS AND PIO- 
NEERS WHO BLAZED THE WEST- 
WARD PATH OF CIVILIZATION, 
TO THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 
WHO FOUGHT FOR FREEDOM 
AND FOR PEACE, AND TO THE 
CIVIC HEROES WHO SAVE A 
PRICELESS HERITAGE 



95 



Poems and Inscriptions 

PANEL III 

TO THE GREAT INVENTORS AND 
FARSEEING PROJECTORS, TO THE 
ENGINEERS, MANUFACTURERS, 
AGRICULTURISTS AND MER- 
CHANTS WHO HAVE DEVELOPED 
THE RESOURCES OF THE NEW 
WORLD, AND MULTIPLIED THE 
HOMES OF FREEMEN 



96 



Poems and Inscriptions 

PANEL IV 
TO THOSE WHO IN THE DEADLY 
MINE, ON STORMY SEAS, IN THE 
FIERCE BREATH OF THE FUR- 
NACE AND IN ALL PERILOUS 
PLACES WORKING CEASELESSLY 
BRING TO THEIR FELLOW MEN 
COMFORT, SUSTENANCE AND THE 
GRACE OF LIFE 



97 



Poems and Inscriptions 

PANEL V 
TO THE SCHOLARS AND LABORI- 
OUS INVESTIGATORS WHO, IN 
THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW, 
GUARD THE LAMP OF KNOWL- 
EDGE AND, CENTURY BY CEN- 
TURY, INCREASE THE SAFETY OF 
LIFE, ENLIGHTEN THE MIND AND 
ENLARGE THE SPIRIT OF MAN 



98 



Poems and Inscriptions 

PANEL VI 
TO THOSE PAINTERS, SCULPTORS, 
AND ARCHITECTS, TELLERS OF 
TALES, POETS, AND CREATORS OF 
MUSIC, TO THOSE ACTORS AND 
MUSICIANS WHO IN THE NEW 
WORLD HAVE CHERISHED AND 
INCREASED THE LOVE OF 
BEAUTY 



99 



L.ofO. 



Poems and Inscriptions 

PANEL VII 
TO THE PROPHETS AND HEROES, 
TO THE MIGHTY POETS AND DI- 
VINE ARTISTS, AND TO ALL THE 
LIGHTBEARERS OF THE ANCIENT 
W^ORLD W^HO INSPIRED OUR 
FOREFATHERS AND SHALL LEAD 
AND ENLIGHTEN OUR CHIL- 
DREN'S CHILDREN 



100 



Poems and Inscriptions 

PANEL VIII 
TO THE STATESMEN, PHILOSO- 
PHERS, TEACHERS AND PREACH- 
ERS, AND TO ALL THOSE WHO, IN 
THE NEW WORLD, HAVE UPHELD 
THE IDEALS OF LIBERTY AND 
JUSTICE, AND HAVE BEEN FAITH- 
FUL TO THE THINGS THAT ARE 
ETERNAL 



lOI 



fi 



Dtc flO'ldOl 



DEC 17190 



